1. Field of the Invention
The system of the present invention relates to the automated testing of computer systems. More particularly the system of the present invention relates to the automated testing of computer application software in a window systems environment.
2. Related Applications
This invention is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/498,206, filed Mar. 23, 1990, entitled "Synchronized Journaling System".
3. Art Background
During the development of software, there is a need to exhaustively test the software before releasing it to customers for use. Initially, tests were performed by a user manually operating the software and performing different operations until all perceivable functions of the software were tested. As software became more sophisticated and complicated, the need to automate testing became more important. It also became desirable to be able to accurately repeat testing of software so that the testing was standardized and as the software was modified, the same test could be used to test the reliability and performance of the software.
To meet this need, various testing systems have been developed. For example, the following testing systems are exemplary of the testing systems available:
DEC/TEST MANAGER, manufactured by Digital Equipment Corp., Maynard, Mass.; and
CAPBAK/SMARTS, manufactured by Software Research, Inc., San Francisco, Calif.
However, a need still exists to provide automated testing systems that can test a wide variety of software programs across different types of hardware architectures in which the testing system is flexible as to the testing parameters and results and is user extensible, that is, the systems can be easily tailored to the specific software to be tested. A need also exists for automated testing systems in which the testing procedure and parameters can be modified interactively with the running of the tests. Furthermore, a need exists for automated testing systems which are simple to use and do not require extensive knowledge fo the intricacies of the testing system.